Darbhanga (Bihar) [India], October 29 : Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed the NDA government in Bihar over the alleged paper leak, alleging that rich students receive papers beforehand.
Addressing a Mahagathbandhan rally in Bihar's Darbhanga, Rahul Gandhi called paper leaks "a slap in the face" of Bihar's youth.
"The youth of Bihar can work as hard as they want, but only those who get the papers first will advance in the exam. Whenever the exam is held, the rich kids with connections get the papers a day before, and the hard work of Bihar's youth, the honesty of Bihar, the truthfulness of Bihar, gets a slap in the face," he said.
Bihar came into the limelight over the NEET-UG paper leak case, when the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (UG) paper leak prime accused Sanjeev Mukhiya was arrested by the Economic Offences Unit team, Patna, in April. Bihar police had also arrested the accused, identified as SK Faiz of Araria, who had allegedly created a Telegram channel 'NEET Paper Leak.'
Rahul Gandhi had previously raised the issue when he participated in the 'Roko Palayan, Do Naukri' campaign against unemployment, inflation, paper leaks, and the reduction in government jobs, on April 7 in Begusarai.
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi reiterated his "dance" jibe and said, "I said in the last meeting that we can get anything done from PM Modi during the elections. In the next meeting, if 200 people from the crowd ask PM Modi to dance on stage in return for votes, the dance would begin. PM Modi will start performing Bharatnatyam on stage. They staged a drama and showed the truth of India."
Earlier today, addressing an election rally at Muzaffarpur, Gandhi again levelled the "vote theft" allegations, and said, "He (PM Modi) just wants your vote. If you ask him to do a drama for votes, he will. You can make him do anything. If you tell Narendra Modi to dance, he will dance."
Further, in Darbhanga, Gandhi said that the BJP staged a "drama" and built a separate pond for PM Modi to take a dip in during Chhath Puja.
"PM Modi said that he will bathe on the Yamuna for Chhath. The Yamuna has dirty water. If someone drank it, they would either get sick or die. No one can go inside. The water is so dirty that if you enter it, you would get sick or get an infection. But Modi staged a drama. He built a small pond there. They will show you anything for elections. A pipe is installed from behind. Clean water is poured into it. The problem arose that someone took a photo of the pipe," he said.
This comes after the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi alleged that the BJP government created "fake Yamuna" for PM Modi to take a dip during Chhath Puja.
"Rekha Gupta's government created a fake Yamuna at Vasudev Ghat for making Reels and Videos. Filtered water from the Ganga was poured into it, and it was claimed that the Yamuna had been cleaned," AAP wrote on X on Tuesday.
Lauding Mahagathbandhan's Chief Ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav, Gandhi promised inclusivity for all castes and religions if the alliance comes into power in Bihar.
"Tejashwi is the Chief Minister face of the Mahagathbandhan. The Mahagathbandhan government will be a government for every caste and every religion. There will be respect for every caste and every religion. Whether it's the EBC, backward classes, Dalits, Mahadalits, minorities, or poor general castes, this will be a government for everyone, and its mission will be to put Bihar back on the path of development," he said.
Mahagathbandhan, in its manifesto, has also promised to cross the 50 per cent reservation ceiling to increase the reservations for several categories.
Mahagathbandhan, led by Rashtriya Janata Dal, includes Congress party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML) led by Deepankar Bhattacharya, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), and Mukesh Sahani's Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP).
NDA includes the Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Rashtriya Lok Morcha.
Additionally, Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj has staked claims to all 243 seats in the state. The assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The results will be declared on November 14.